


BuddyCon

by captain_lion18



Category: The Big Bang Theory (TV)
Genre: Also a huge Nightvale reference, Anger, Angst with a Happy Ending, Cosplay, First Kiss, M/M, Sorry I just love Wayne's World, Wayne's World reference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-06
Updated: 2016-05-06
Packaged: 2018-06-06 19:45:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6767434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captain_lion18/pseuds/captain_lion18
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: Sheldon suggests a cosplay for Comic-Con that can be interpreted (easily or covertly) as a couples' cosplay. Leonard goes along with it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [notalwaysweak](https://archiveofourown.org/users/notalwaysweak/gifts).



> Thanks for including me in this event. I hope you like it! (Also sorry for the Wayne's World I just love Wayne's World)

Leonard awoke to the sound of a marker frantically scrawling on a white-board. It was not an unusual sound to hear in the morning, and Leonard almost felt comforted by its presence. His roommate was a predictable man, and although sometimes Sheldon’s compulsions were the death of him he couldn’t help but be somewhat affectionate toward the rituals.

They were especially comforting this week, when nothing else in his life seemed to be bringing him much comfort. He had seen Penny in the hallway there times yesterday, and although it was silly and childish he had felt yet another pang of hurt. Their breakup, though almost weeks ago now, was still fresh in his mind.

“Stop pretending, Leonard, we gave it a try and its not working.” She had said, and she was, to Leonard’s dismay, right. It was not working. The two argued almost all the time, and the only time they seemed to be on the same page was when they were having sex, an act that was occurring with less and less frequency now. Their relationship had no substance, no real bedrock. Penny was right, it was time to stop pretending.

After a silence, he had asked, “Could we still be friends?” The answer: “I hope so.” But to no one’s surprise, the feat had proved difficult, and the awkwardness and pain still persisted in both of them. Worse yet, Leonard had been taking it out on his roommate. For the first few days, Sheldon had deserved Leonard’s snippiness, spewing countless ‘ _I told you so’s_ and other general jerkisms. 5 days after the breakup Sheldon had been chirping about something of that sort when Leonard had snapped. A full on, warp-10, snap.

_“Honestly Leonard, I don’t know what you expected, surely even you could have seen how this was going to turn out. But there you were, thinking with your genitals again…”_

_“Will you just…shut up?!” Leonard had said. The color seemed to drain from Sheldon’s face. “We get it, you are **so** much better than us. You know, Sheldon? I feel sorry for you. You’re never going to know what its like to love someone, or **be** loved by someone And I think that’s sad..”_

_Sheldon looked as if he had wilted, and his eyes were focused squarely on the floor. The tall man suddenly seemed very small to Leonard, and the shorter man began to realize the gravity of what he had just said._

_“I’m very sorry if I’ve upset you, Leonard.” Sheldon said quietly, looking at his shoes. “That was never my intention.” And then he exited the living room, and Leonard heard Sheldon’s bedroom door close with a solid thunk. And even though Leonard stood by what he said, there was no denying that the sound of that door broke a little piece of his heart._

That had been five weeks ago. Things had been rough between him and Sheldon for the first few days (rough being defined as “complete radio silence to one another”), but now they had settled back into their little routine, almost as if the incident hadn’t happened.

Almost.

Leonard slipped from his bed and padded his way into the living room. As he suspected, he found his roommate, still clad in his robe, scribbling on the white-board. But, to Leonard’s confusion, he wasn’t writing Physics equations.

“Good morning.” Sheldon said, still scribbling and with his back turned to him.

“Morning, Sheldon. Watcha’ doin’?” Leonard said, stifling a yawn.

Sheldon turned to him, then. Cocked his head to the side, and formed his mouth into a pout.

“What do you mean, what am I doing? Please tell me you haven’t forgotten what we’re doing this weekend.”

“This weekend?”

“Good lord, Leonard, It’s been on the apartment calendar for months!” Sheldon scoffed.

“I, um---I don’t remember.” Leonard said. He had been so caught up in his drama the past few weeks it was a miracle he managed to make to work every day.

“How could you forget BuddyCon! Southern California’s premier duo-oriented convention!” Sheldon exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah.” Leonard said sheepishly. “I...I just assumed we were skipping this year.”

“Why would you think that?”

Leonard gulped. “You know, because of…. _the stuff_ that happened between us a couple weeks ago.”

“Oh,” Sheldon said quietly.

A beat of awkward silence fell upon the two.

“Well,” Sheldon finally said. “We are still going. And we _need_ to pick a costume.”

“Okay,” Leonard said, a little uneasily. “What exactly did you have in mind?”

“I believe Koothrapali and Wolowitz are going as something called ‘Wayne’s World.’ I do not know where it originates and do not care to find out, but whatever it is we cannot do it.”

Sheldon began to motion to his board.

“I have spent this morning compiling a list of classic duos we could emulate, and have it down to a couple of choices, if you want to look.”

_Now **that** was new, _ Leonard thought. Sheldon almost never asked for Leonard’s opinion, _especially_ , on anything related to Cons.

Taken aback, Leonard almost didn’t know how to respond.

“Uh, it’s alright. Why don’t you pick your favorite?”

Sheldon nodded.

“Well, we did Spock and Kirk for that Con two years ago, and I _hate_ to repeat costumes. Okay! That settles it. Cecil and Carolos it is.”

Leonard raised an eyebrow.

“You mean like, from Nightvale?”

“No, not ‘like’ from Nightvale, _from_ Nightvale!!” Sheldon said. And then, again to Leonard’s surprise, he hesitated. “Do you dislike my choice?”

“No! That’s not it at all. I just, you know they’re a couple, right?” Leonard said softly.

“Of course there a couple! That’s why were dressing as them—have you forgotten that this is a Con centered around couples?”

“That’s not what I—“ Leonard was about to explain, but something told him to just drop it. “Never mind. I love it.”

“Excellent! Now all that’s left is to figure out who will be who. Now, I’m inclined to claim Carlos, as he _is_ a scientist, but Cecil is more of the charismatic leader type, which I also identify with….”

Sheldon was still musing over the choice when Leonard went to make himself breakfast.

_Whatever he chooses,_ Leonard thought _, this should be interesting…_

           

 


	2. 2

Sheldon and Leonard entered the crowded Con feeling confident; If they didn’t say so themselves, their costumes _rocked._ Eventually, Sheldon had decided upon the arrangement: He would be Cecil (“I can’t deny my natural charisma!”), and Leonard would be Carlos.

They had truly gone all out. Sheldon had used temporary dye to whiten his hair, and had made purple-dyed sections on the sides. He had gotten Stuart to paint an intricate third eye on his forehead, and Sheldon’s lanky build made him perfect for the part. He had also made Stuart use eyeliner to draw cryptic-looking patterns up and down his arms, and the designs stuck out perfectly from his rolled up white and purple striped dress shirt.

Leonard had used a product to make his hair curly, and felt that his costume was the perfect blend of lab-coat and flannel. Not to mention that Leonard already kind of looked like the scientist—this cosplay seemed to be one of the only good use of his short physique that Leonard had found so far.

As they strolled the floor of the con, they received a great many looks and points, all from people admiring their costume (usually the looks and points Sheldon received were less than positive, so this positivity felt like a nice change).

“You guys look great!” Raj said when the two pairs met up. He and Wolowitz were wearing classic Wayne’s world gear. Raj was obviously Garth, holding drumsticks and wearing a shaggy, long blond wig and thick glasses. Wolowitz had on the black “Wayne’s World” cap, and was holding a cardboard guitar.

“Wait, guys, you got to check this out.” Wolowitz said.

The two turned to each other.

“Party on, Wayne!” Raj said, his impression mediocre.

“Party on, Garth!” Wolowitz replied, his impression better than Raj’s but still not exactly there.

“It’s great, right?” Raj exclaimed.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Let’s go with that.” Leonard said.

“It sounds like nonsense to me.” Sheldon proclaimed.

“You just can’t appreciate true humor,” Wolowitz said. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Garth and I are going to go on the hunt for some babes.” The pair started to walk away.

“Wait!” Raj said, turning back. “I almost forgot--you should enter in that big costume contest they have every year! I bet you guys have a shot!”

Leonard and Sheldon looked at each other.

“How do you feel about that?” Leonard asked.

Sheldon smiled. “Of course we should do it! We need to show those noobs who the _real_ cosplayers are.”

“Alright, we will.” Leonard said, turning back to Raj and Wolowitz. “Do you know what time the contest is?”

“Um, it’s one of the main events, so I think it starts pretty soon.” Raj looked at a schedule he pulled from his pocket. “Oh, it starts in five minutes! And it’s all the way at the other end of the floor!”

“Shit.” Leonard said. “We’ll never make it.”

“That’s quitter talk, Leonard. And if there’s one thing my father hypocritically told me to despise, it was quitter talk. Now let’s go!”

To Leonard’s surprise (a lot of things Sheldon had been doing lately surprised him, actually), Sheldon grabbed his hand and began to lead him quickly through the thick mass of convention-goers. Eventually, they broke into a run, sprinting to get to the contest.

They made it in just enough time to be registered and quickly directed to the stage. For some reason, in addition to making them out of the breath the run had also left them quite giddy, and both could not help but giggle as they were brought on stage. And this wasn’t Sheldon’s weird, breathy laugh, this was full on, real deal giggling. But as they surveyed their competition, their giddiness evaporated.

The costumes were, safe to say, fierce. Besides them stood an Iron Man and a Captain America. The Iron Man’s armor looked as if it had come directly from Stark Industries, and its arc reactor even glowed. The Cap’s shield looked like its creator had somehow discovered and forged real Vibranium. Two storm troopers, imposing in their perfect white armor, stood further down the line. A terrifying-in-their-accuracy Leslie Knope and Ron Swanson finished off the line, and a Data (complete with yellow contact and white body paint) and VISOR-clad Geordi walked onto the stage right before the competition started.

Leonard and Sheldon looked at each other warily.

_What have we done?!_

“Good afternoon everyone!” The MC said to the audience. “Welcome to the 11th annual BuddyCon Costume contest!”

The audience cheered. “We have 15 lovely pairs here for us today. There will be first and second place prizes, determined by our panel of judges, as well as a new audience favorite prize, determine by you, our very own audience!”

The audience cheered again, this time even louder.

“Now, without further adieu, let’s get started!”

The MC proceeded to go down the line, introducing each pair as he went. The audience members cheered for their favorites, and the noise would spike and dip accordingly.

Leonard could feel Sheldon shaking slightly beside him. Sheldon’s stage fright was becoming more intense by the second, and Leonard wished he could do something to help his friend.

But he didn’t have to—as the MC finished up with the pair next to them, Sheldon quickly grabbed Leonard’s hand.

The audience went wild. Something about the combination of their costumes and their clasped hands sent the Cecilos shippers into the audience into a frenzy. Both men blushed frantically, but they enjoyed the support nonetheless.

Soon the judges had deliberated, and it was time to announce the results.

“Okay everyone, first we will be declaring the winner of our ‘Audience Favorite’ prize. The winners of this prize will each receive one $150 GameStop gift-card!” The MC paused, fishing an envelope out of his pocket. He tore it open, and cleared his throat. “The winners are: Cecil and Carlos from Welcome to Nightvale!”

Sheldon and Leonard gasped. They had won something! The room erupted in cheers. Leonard turned to Sheldon, and was happy to see his friend was grinning an even-better-than-Koala-face grin. They locked eyes for a moment, both caught up in the joy of the moment.

“Kiss! Kiss!” Someone in the audience screamed. Sheldon’s smile evaporated.

Soon, other audience members began to join in. In no time the entire room was chanting for Sheldon and Leonard to kiss.

Almost instantaneously, Sheldon bolted from the stage.

“Sheldon!” Leonard yelled, and he ran after him. As he ran, he could hear boos and jeers emanating from the audience.

He managed to stay on Sheldon’s trail, and eventually managed to find him in a deserted handicap bathroom far from the convention floor.

Leonard knocked on the door.

“Hey, it’s Leonard. Can I come in?”

Hearing something akin to ‘yes,’ he carefully opened the door. Sheldon was leaning against one of the bathroom walls, breathing heavily. His eyes were closed.

“Hey buddy,” Leonard said gently. “Don’t worry, everything’s okay now. Those people are just idiots, they don’t know what they’re saying….” Sheldon opened his eyes, and looked directly at Leonard.

“Did you really mean it?” Sheldon said suddenly.

Leonard was taken aback. “Mean what?”

“What you said a few weeks ago. When you said you felt sorry for me, because I would never love anyone.”

Leonard’s brow furrowed. Why would Sheldon bring this up now? “Um, well…yeah, I sorta did,” he said.

Sheldon twitched, looking pained.

“That’s not correct Leonard.” Sheldon said, his voice tight. “One hundred percent not correct.”

“Oh really?” Leonard could feel his frustration rising. “Name one person you have felt genuine romantic affection for. And Amy doesn’t count. You could barely stand to call her your girlfriend for those couple weeks. Everyone could see that you were relieved when you two ended things.”

“I _was_ relieved.”

“You see? From that example, can’t you see why I said that? You have this view of romance that somehow make you think that it’s a weakness, like you’re better than other people because you don’t have it. And I think that’s sad. I think it’s sad that you don’t want to love anyone.”

“I love you, Leonard.” Sheldon said softly. Leonard froze.

“What?”

“I love you, Leonard. I _love_ you.”

“Sheldon, you know that doesn’t count…that’s platonic love…”

Sheldon shook his head.

“You misunderstand. I’m _in_ love with you Leonard. In the romantic way.”

Leonard was stunned. Sheldon…in love with him? It was unbelievable!

“I-I don’t…” Leonard mumbled.

“You think I’m lying?”

“I don’t know.”

Sheldon closed his eyes, and took a deep breath. He moved away from the bathroom wall, taking a few steps toward Leonard. When he began to talk, his voice was quiet, and strangely tender.

“Leonard, I don’t know when I started to love you, but all of the sudden, about 4 years ago, I knew I did. But I knew that it was fruitless. You were in love with Penny and that was that. Why would you be interested in me? As you’ve told me before, I am arrogant, cold, unaffectionate…the opposite of what you would ever want. Plus, I am not a woman, which brings up another question all it’s own…”

“But what about Amy!?” Leonard blurted.

“I never was really interested in her. Romantically, that is. She is a delightful person, and I was and am glad to be friends with her, but as much as I tried I was never really attracted to her in that way.”

Leonard was shocked. Sheldon was in love with him? It didn’t make sense! How could Leonard never have seen it? Sheldon had never indicated anything more than wanting a friendly relationship with him (and even that was sometimes doubtful)…But as much as Leonard tried to disprove it in his mind, some things did make sense. Sheldon’s annoyance with Penny, his frustration with and indifference with her and Leonard’s relationship, the guarded callousness of Sheldon’s behavior...But why would Sheldon be in love with him?

“How do you know what your feeling isn’t just a strong sense of friendship?”

Sheldon twitched in pain again, and took another deep breath.

“I know, Leonard, I just know. It’s not the same way I feel about, say Wolowitz or Koothrapali or Penny, or even Amy. I have feelings for you that can’t be explained in any other way. I briefly considered that I had a brain parasite. But that seems even more farfetched. The only conclusion was love. Romantic love. Did you ever consider your feelings towards Penny to be those of a desire for friendship?”

“No.”

“Well, there you are.”

“But why? Why are you in love with me?!”

Sheldon looked down at his hands. Leonard could see his defenses crumbling.

“This is very difficult for me, but it’s…it’s not one thing. It’s many things. I love that you are so smart, Leonard. Honestly, you’re probably the smartest person I’ve met, besides myself of course. I love the way your eyes shine when you get excited, and that voice you use when you’re talking about something you have passion for. I love the way you smile. I love that you understand the way I think about physics. And I love you because of all the kindness you’ve shown me. I know we’ve had our rough spots, especially lately, but when all is said and done you’re one of the kindest people I’ve ever met. And I love many other things that I just can’t quite seem to name. I just…I love you, Leonard. Do you believe me now?”

Leonard was speechless. He had never seen Sheldon so vulnerable, so emotional, so loving. It was almost as if he was a different person. Had Sheldon really been hiding these feelings for so long? And what about Leonard himself? Was it possible that he too felt something for his roommate?

“I believe you, Sheldon.”

“Thank you.” Sheldon mumbled.

The two men stood in silence. Leonard realized they were now standing very close, with only a few inches of space separating them.

“I’m not sure what to say.” Leonard finally said, still stunned.

“That is what I expected. You don’t have to say anything. This is my problem, and I will deal with it on my own.”

“Wait, _problem?_ Loving me is a problem for you?” Leonard said. Sheldon looked surprised.

“Well, obviously. Seeing how you are not interested in me in a romantic way, it is quite a problem for me.”

“How do you know I am not interested in you?” Leonard said. At that, Sheldon looked even more surprised, and he raised one of his eyebrows.

“Are you suggesting that you are indeed…?” But before Sheldon could finish his sentence, Leonard had, without thinking, closed the gap between them and placed his lips on the other man’s. Sheldon remained motionless. After a few moments, Leonard removed himself, slightly disappointed. Sheldon looked bewildered.

“I’m sorry, Sheldon, I didn’t mean to…” However, this time it was Leonard who didn’t finish his sentence. Sheldon quickly put his arms around Leonard’s waist and brought his lips to his own, letting a miniscule whine of joy escape his mouth as he did so. Leonard kissed him back without hesitation. And here Leonard was, kissing Sheldon The Robot. No, he thought to himself, not Sheldon _The_ Robot, but Sheldon, _my_ Robot.

When the two finally separated, Leonard saw that Sheldon had flushed a bright shade of red and had on his face the biggest grin he had ever seen. Leonard imagined that his face was colored similarly.

“That was good.” Sheldon said softly, his usual verbosity eluding him.

“Yeah,” Leonard said. “It was.”

“I know this might be a tad preemptive, but how would you feel about maybe adding a relationship clause to our room-mate agreement?”

Leonard grinned. No matter how much the man let his walls down, Sheldon was still Sheldon.

“I’d love it. And I just want you to know, that I’m sorry I said those things.”

“I-I forgive you. And although the rant was mostly unnecessary, I needed to hear some of it. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry for being so hard on you about Penny. I know how much you wanted to make things work with her.”

Leonard smiled bittersweetly.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Now, can we please leave this bathroom? I can almost feel the germs eating at my flesh.” Sheldon said.

“Wow,” Leonard said sarcastically. “You, sir, are a true romantic.”

As the two walked out of the bathroom, Leonard slipped his arm under Sheldon’s.

“Now,” Leonard said, motioning in the direction of the stage, “How about we go give the people what they want?”

 


End file.
